Biden talks of war on drugs with Calderón

By Dudley Althaus :
March 5, 2012
: Updated: March 6, 2012 6:47am

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, left, shakes hands with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Monday March 5, 2012. Biden is on a one-day visit to Mexico.

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, left, shakes hands with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Monday March 5, 2012. Biden is on a one-day visit to Mexico. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

Photo By Alexandre Meneghini

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Josefina Vazquez Mota, presidential candidate for the National Action Party, PAN, pose for pictures in Mexico City, Monday, March 5, 2012. Biden is on a one-day official visit to Mexico. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

Photo By Alexandre Meneghini

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, shakes hands with Enrique Pena Nieto, former governor of the State of Mexico and current presidential candidate for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, Mexico City, Monday, March 5, 2012. Biden is on a one-day official visit to Mexico. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

Photo By Alexandre Meneghini

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, poses for photos with Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Mexico City, Monday March 5, 2012. Biden is on a one-day visit to Mexico. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

Photo By Alexandre Meneghini

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, second from left, leaves after placing a flower arrangement under an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe during a visit to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Monday, March 5, 2012. Biden is on a one-day official visit to Mexico. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

Photo By YURI CORTEZ

US Vice-President Joe Biden (C) listens an explanation during his visit at the Basilica of Guadalupe on March 5, 2012 in Mexico City. US Vice President Joe Biden headed to Mexico and Honduras for a routine two-day diplomatic trip. AFP PHOTO/ Yuri CORTEZ (Photo credit should read YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

MEXICO CITY — Eyeing potentially game-changing elections in both Mexico and at home, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spent Monday chatting behind closed doors with President Felipe Calderón and later, the three presidential candidates vying to succeed him.

Calderón “recognized the efforts made by (President Barack Obama) but at the same time reiterated the pressing need to toughen actions against arms trafficking and money laundering,” a statement from the Mexican president's office said.

Mexico's presumed presidential front-runner, Enrique Peña Nieto — whose Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century — told reporters he stressed to Biden that if elected he would remain committed to fighting organized crime, but do so “more efficiently.”

“The discussion shouldn't focus on whether to combat it, but on how to achieve better results,” said Peña, whose party has been accused by opponents of tolerating drug-related corruption among politicians and officials.

The U.S. government is providing Mexico with some $1.6 billion in security aid, most of it equipment and logistical support for the federal police, to help fight the gangs. U.S. drones are flying over much of Mexico, providing intelligence information on the gangs.

Biden's visit also signals to U.S. Hispanic voters the Obama administration's concern and support for Mexico and Latin America, Selee and other analysts said. Though many Hispanics have been disappointed with the administration for various reasons, their vote is considered crucial to Obama's re-election.

Biden also met with leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador and Josefina Vazquez-Mota, the hopeful of Calderón's conservative party. The vice president arrives in Honduras today for brief talks with seven Central American presidents.